The Doshi believed he had destroyed Choubei’s throat and killed him, but Choubei is no longer entirely human, thanks in part (probably) to his brief stint in the pit of vines and flowers. His throat regenerates, and when the Doshi breaks his arms, they heal as well. More importantly, Choubei can now clearly see the Doshi’s source of power: his Tao.
All the Doshi can do is protest that this must be impossible, as Choubei’s Tao continues to grow with his understanding. He even asks how Choubei can take this sudden transformation in such stride. Choubei, of course, is no stranger to change, or pain. As long as he can protect Touma, he’s good. But Touma is worried…is Choubei really okay? Probably not!
Meanwhile at the riverbed, Gabimaru continues to hack and slash at monsters with Mei on his shoulder uttering iterations of “strong-weak, yes, strong-strong, no.” Then a Doshi arrives and scoops Mei up in his cape. Without thinking, or rather, thinking about his wife, Gabimaru repositions himself between the Doshi and Mei.
He doesn’t know why he did this, or why he “hasn’t been himself” since coming to this island, but for now he’s just going to go with it. Even if Mei isn’t human, he doesn’t want anyone to make her cry. If he did, his wife would surely be cross with him.
The Doshi reveals he’s with a second Doshi, one in command of the butterflies and the other the centipedes. They also speak of the final step in training in Tao mastery, which involves sexual congress, specifically with Mei. Only the Tensen possess both yin and yang, which is why they can switch between the sexes.
The two Doshi are only yang, while Mei, an imperfect Tensen who was cast out for being only yin, is meant to be their “training partner”. It’s clear Mei wants nothing to do with them. In fact, the Doshi dig their own graves by being so crass about their intentions. There’s still the matter of being able to accurately read their invisible attacks.
Thankfully for both convicts, it’s Fushi who cracks Mei’s word game: they must learn to embrace both the weak and the strong. So far they’ve only been going strong, which is ineffective when fighting against Tao. A switch goes off in Gabimaru’s head, with this realization synching up with his years of tireless training in what was Tao by any other name, or at least half of it.
Now that he embraces the weak, the yin, of Tao, he can not only sense it to the point he can dodge and negate the Doshis’ attacks, but also better understands how Sagiri can waver and move forward and fight at the same time. He and Gantetsusai defeat the two Doshi, just as Sagiri & Co. reach and walk through the gates of Horai, where they’re “welcomed” by the Tensen Mu Dan casualy beheading Houko.
While Gabimaru is confident he’s attained the same level as the Tensen with his embrace of both the strong and weak, it remains to be seen how long, if at all, Sagiri, Yuzuriha, and Senta will be able to hold out.
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